Reading for pleasure: July 2023

Hansjörg Schneider, trans. Astrid Freuler (Bitter Lemon Press: £9.99; e-book £5.99)

First published in German as Hunkeler und der Fall Livius by Ammann Verlag in 2007, this is the third (there are seven in total) of Hansjörg Schneider’s Inspector Hunkeler series to appear in English. The other two are Silver Pebbles (2021) and The Basel Killings (2022), both also published by Bitter Lemon Press. I have yet to read these, but will do so soon. However, starting with the third did not pose any difficulties.

The first sentence reads: “Peter Hunkeler, inspector with the Basel City criminal department, formerly married with a daughter, now divorced, was asleep in his house in Alsace.” That says much in a few succinct phrases, and sets the tone for the novel as a whole. What the reader needs to know is conveyed in sharp sentences and tight dialogue, with the minimum of descriptive passages, and with a bit of existential introspection thrown into the mix.

Inspector Hunkeler’s sleep is disturbed on New Year’s morning when the badly ravaged corpse of an elderly man is found in a garden allotment on the edge of Basel. There follows an absorbing story of personal rivalries and petty rules involving the allotment holders, aggravations of cross-border police work (also involving rivalries and rules), and what may be a sinister connection to an event in an Alsatian village during World War 2. This all adds up to a well told, absorbing investigation, with a strong lead in the person of Inspector Hunkeler, and some sharp and swiftly drawn players in both professional and civilian life.

Although set in Basel and the border country in the middle of winter, with icy roads, hard earth and some dour people, I think comparison with Simenon’s Maigret novels is not inappropriate. Recommended, especially if you are looking for something well written and a little different.

Maria Adolfsson (Zaffre: £8.99; e-book £4.74)

This is the third novel in Adolfsson’s Doggerland series. In a previous review I recommended this author’s novels, and Cruel Tides is just as good as Fatal Isles and Wild Shores. 

In Cruel Tides, there are two parallel investigations. One is the hunt for a serial rapist/killer who has already struck four seemingly unconnected women. The second is a missing person enquiry, involving the disappearance of Luna, a singer from Doggerland. She has returned to the country secretly, after an absence of many years, to record her first album in a decade. The main character once again is D I Eiken, a strong and empathetic police officer, with all-too-human flaws and doubts. Her interactions with colleagues, and superiors, ring true to life, and the dialogue is sharp, with just the right touch of humour. Despite my aversion to present time narratives, I found yet again that I settled into the rhythm of the writing, and the two storylines moved along nicely. There are some important choices for Eiken to make, both professional and personal. If you have yet to read the first two in the series, I recommend that you think about doing so. It is not essential, but would lend better understanding of the back story, and continuity to the character development.

I have one slight reservation. If there is to be a fourth title in the series, then, despite the believable storylines and characters, there just might be a danger that the endings could become rather formulaic. Not all detectives, even those in crime novels, find themselves in personal danger near the conclusion of every crime investigated. With the anticipated fundamental changes to Eiken’s personal circumstances signalled near the end of Cruel Tides, her creator may go off on a new direction, using many of her existing characters, but shifting the emphasis. It will be interesting to see what happens. In the meantime, if you are on the lookout for a really enjoyable police procedural series, you will not go wrong if you choose this one.

Ruth Anderson KC runs Well Read Books, Wigtown